The Odd Couple
by A.Single.Gal
Summary: [Clawen AU] Owen Grady puts out an ad looking for a roommate after his best friend moved out, new in town Claire Dearing answers to it and moves in with him. {Future updates can be found on the website Archive of Our Own}
1. Chapter 1

When Claire Dearing got the opportunity for a promotion at work, she never thought it'd come with a three-sixty life altering experience. She was a hard working woman, the kind who seemed to never have time for friends, family, or a love life. She was the type who would spend her Friday nights with a glass of wine and working on her laptop, while society expected her to be out at a bar meeting handsome bachelors and getting free drinks from strangers.

She was young, beautiful, intelligent, and radiated the kind of confidence that made men fall on their ass wondering what was it that had just hit them, and left them asking for more.

As a Political Science graduate, Claire had successfully accomplished the first stage up to her dream job. Since she was a little girl, she had unconditional love for animals. She always felt it was unfair that there weren't enough laws out there protecting them and she vowed to change this once she was old enough.

She worked for an animal rights organization. Their goal was aimed to work to preserve animal habitats and protect animals both in the wild and living domestically with humans. Headquarters had handpicked her to be the leader of their new office in the northeast side of the country. She was not only known for her hard work and determination, aside from her great leadership skills, but also as someone whose intentions and motives to save animals in extinction and her determination to give any other species a voice were genuine and came from the heart.

She had immediately taken the opportunity that had been given to her, even if it meant she had to move to a new city and start her life from scratch; find a place to live, the restaurants that would fit her eating habits, and many other things.

The redhead never left anything to chance, she had to know exactly where she'd be standing three steps ahead. Taking advantage of technology, she had already started searching for an apartment to rent. She had spent the last few days making calls and making sure she found something she could not only afford, but that was in a safe neighborhood and close to work.

She had elaborated an entire chart, her top five choices listed in the order of her personal preference. She then graded them by expense, safety, and location. Many would think she was overreacting, but for Claire there was not such thing when it came to choosing the place where she'd settle and start the new phase of her life.

By the time her plane landed in the city that never sleeps, she had everything already taken care of. She had booked a hotel room for the first couple of nights, given that she still had some arrangements to take care of. She had narrowed her list of five places to only two (her almost final choice and a backup) and wanted to take the final decision after standing in her potential new home in person and meeting who could become her new roommate, before taking the ultimate decision.

If there was something she had noticed during this process was that Manhattan was expensive, so sharing expenses had become a requirement in her list.

She had talked to the guy over the phone a few times by now; discussed terms of rental fees and other bills. He also wanted a quick meeting before closing on any agreement, he had kept making emphasis on how he wanted to do an evaluation on prospect driven by chemistry. Claire figured she'd have to keep her claws hidden and be on her best behavior if she wanted to impress this guy. She had an appointment to meet him so he could show her the apartment the following day.

* * *

Owen Grady had lived in New York City since he was eighteen. He and his best friend had promised they would live together in a place where they made the rules which were as follow; rule number one, No rules. Rule number two, no one told them what to do. It was one of those places that lived up to the ideology of 'bros before hoes' ...until one of them ended up falling in love.

Love, ugh. Owen Grady always felt that was an overrated state of mind. Why fall in love when he could just enjoy the fun part? A true charmer by nature and handsome, he had ladies eating from the palm of his hand. He could have a new woman every night if he wanted to, but he wasn't a 'dog'. He liked to be selective, even when all he would do was have them for one night, two if she was really hot.

The man was feeling a little disappointed and betrayed lately, his best friend had finally gotten married to his long time girlfriend and had moved upstate with her. Owen was now left with a half empty apartment and a full rent to pay. He was so pressed about this, he didn't realize that was the pitch he had used for his ad when looking for a new roommate. He was used to living with someone he trusted and someone he got along with. He could be an eight-year old at times, and that's how he ended up publishing an ad seeking for a new best friend who would pay him.

It was until one of the calls was from a woman, when his entire thinking shifted. Why haven't he thought about this? A female roommate... better yet, a hot female roommate. At times, he had to stop himself from asking her to send him photos. He didn't want to scare her off (in case she was good looking). However, he found a way to tell her that even if the ad didn't state it, it was clearly advised between the lines that first impression chemistry would be an important aspect on his decision making, among other evaluations — read if she was hot, smelt good, and was straight.

He had agreed to meet her once she made it to town, she had told him she had taken on a new position at work and was flying out that coming weekend.

Owen was in front of the television watching his cartoons that Saturday morning. He was having a bowl of Lucky Charms for breakfast, on his boxers, when a knock to the door made him remember he had that one appointment with the hopefully very hot girl he had been talking to over the phone.

"Coming!" He called out, milk dripping down his chin after talking with his mouth full. He cleaned his face with his hand and wiped it over the cushion before trotting to his room to find a pair of pants and a shirt. He managed to get half decent while getting dressed on his way back to the door.

Owen opened it to find Claire standing there. She was wearing a pair of plum skinny jeans, which made him give her curves a solid ten. A cream long sleeve v-neck loosen top, his eyes unable to stay away from the freckles sparkling through her collar bone, and plum high heels that perfectly framed her firm legs. Her beautiful long red locks twirled over her shoulders, her fine fingers holding a golden clutch. "Mi casa is now su casa." He offered a cheeky smile, "do you need help moving in?"

Owen hadn't been the only one to notice how attractive the person standing in front of them was. Sure, Claire wasn't the type to go touching around, but that didn't mean she didn't look around. She had found herself biting on her lower lip once her green eyes took on his biceps, almost missing the stains on his tank top. She tilted her head a title, almost wishing she could turn him around and check his ass. She blushed lightly at this thought. He was also very handsome and she had never found messy sleepy hair as cute as she did right now, "did I wake you?" She wondered apologetically.

Owen kept the door open for her to step inside, and in that moment Claire felt how it was like to have a spell broken. How Cinderella went from feeling in a fantasy world with a prince taken out of her wildest dreams (Okay, maybe for Cinderella they weren't wild dreams), and out of the sudden... she was back in rags, horses were mice, and everything in front of her was a nightmare needing cleaning and tidying up.

The redhead gulped, it was after she took the dirty clothes lying all over the living room area and the mountain of dishes stacked in the sink, when she realized his television was on and he had been watching old Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Then she saw that hand print on the couch, his personal napkin.

"Cool huh?" He nodded pointing at the television once he had closed the door and joined her. "Imagine living in an era where dinosaurs are alive and you get to have your own raptor." He was a Flintstones fan.

"Weren't those supposed to be lethal?" She chuckled, taking a step backwards to the door.

Owen fetched his cereal bowl and went back to his breakfast before sitting back down. He filled his mouth with a spoon of milk and gulped it as he shook his head, "Come on, sit down." He pointed out at the couch beside him. "You live here now, take your shoes off, get comfortable."

"I would, but...I'm afraid something will jump on me or—." She wrinkled her nose.

"Nah, I don't have pets."

"What about pests?" Claire wondered.

"C'mon, the couch won't swallow you!" He insisted, motioning her over with his arm.

"Maybe because it's already stuffed." She cleared her throat and hesitantly sat on the single couch beside him. She frowned and shifted around, unable to get comfortable. She reached under the cushion and started to feel around. She felt something soft, which couldn't be the thing causing the couch to be so uncomfortable but she still pulled it out.

She wrinkled her nose and blushed lightly while her fingers were pinching what it seemed to be a dirty pair of boxers. She parted her lips and snorted.

"Um, I was in the middle of doing some laundry." He snatched the pair of boxers away from her and stuffed them between the cushion in the couch he was sitting on.

"When, last week?"

"So, um... you can have access to everything. Like, if you get hungry just grab whatever and you can use the tv and the PlayStation." He pointed over. "I'll give you the WiFi password, ours is the one called ' '... but don't worry, it's completely safe." He explained, "my EX best friend and I had to deal with the punks across stealing it our WiFi, so." He shrugged.

"Um.." Claire tilted her head.

"So yeah, you can grab and use anything, except my Lucky Charms. I don't share those." He added before he went back to eating. "But feel free to lurk around." He invited her to take a self-guided tour through the place.

Claire frowned and sat there watching him go back to eating his cereal and watching his cartoon. She casually stood up and looked around the place. She wished she had something where to do a pro-con list, or re evaluate her choices. Her green eyes were careful to examine every corner of the place, it was exactly as described on the ad, it was just that it looked completely different than how she had imagined it; she pictured something clean and came to find his laundry sorted out all over the living room.

She mentally compared her budget and what she could afford opposite his mess. She found the room which was to be hers was already furnished and the bed was practically new. His former roommate didn't seem to be as big of a mess as this guy was, which she appreciated.

She took her cellphone out, sat on the bed, and started to work on a quick chart which started to suggest that the place was still her best choice even with the messy roommate added to the con column.

After about ten minutes, Claire went back to the living room and decided to take the place, "so when can I move in?" She wondered, a soft smile in her lips.

Owen sipped the last of his milk from his cereal bowl and smiled at her, "I thought you already had." He smirked.


	2. Chapter 2

Moving into a new place was always exhausting, that's how Claire had ended up practically collapsing in her new bed. She had moved in to her new apartment that following Sunday morning and had spent all day unpacking.

The redhead was the kind of girl who needed to have everything tide, cleaned, and in its place. She couldn't live with the few luggage cases she had travelled with be sit there. She also felt the need to clean every corner of her new room and readjust the furniture to her liking. She had moved the bed around, leaving it in the middle of the room — not too close to the window nor the door. She had also made sure the study desk was by the window, so she could take advantage of the sunlight without the reflection threatening to leave her blind.

That Sunday afternoon, Owen had so kindly offered her some space in the bathroom cabinet under the sink. Yes, they were to share a bathroom, it would be something interesting to see. After all, it hadn't been ten minutes when they were already having some disagreements about it. She had put some towels in her new space (no problem with those), as well as a box of tampons — these apparently were out of space objects for the man she had agreed to be roommates with.

"I'm sure you keep a box of condoms here somewhere!" Claire argued.

"So?"

"If you get to keep your small sized condoms in here, why can't I keep my tampons here as well?" She spat.

"WHOA, I'm not near close to being a small size, Princess!" He was offended, the nerve! Claire crossed her arms against her chest and let her eyes fall down to his crutch before offering him an incredulous look. Owen was looking for the box in the one drawer he had kept, it was a mice nest and Claire wondered how he managed to find anything there. Once he found the box, he handed it over to the redhead for her to see herself, "you can read right? What does it say over here!?" He tapped with his finger, "extra large. large!" He answered his own question for her.

"Please, that doesn't mean anything!" She smiled noticing how her insult had triggered him, "you can easily get an extra large box and fill it with your actual size so you don't feel bad about having a teenie-weenie..."

"Do you want me to go through an inspection? Because I'm not shy!" He started undoing his belt and was more than ready to pull down his jeans and boxers for her too see.

"Ugh, I'm not interested in seeing _it_... not now, not ever." The redhead looked away before trying to retake on the subject. "I'm keeping the tampons in here, you won't even be able to tell!" She rolled her eyes, "unless you'll be lurking on my side for some reason."

Owen rolled his eyes and went back to fixing his belt, his hazel eyes following her out of the bathroom. Once she was gone, he didn't hesitate to start lurking around the different kind of beauty supplies she had neatly set on her side of the sink counter. The redhead had set them up in an specific order, one Owen immediately started to mess with the moment he grabbed the first flask at his hand's reach.

It was her perfume, he opened it and wrinkled his nose at the scent. He put it back down, ignoring the previous position it had been on. The next thing he grabbed was her body lotion, he took the lid off and sniffed it. It was vanilla scent, one he immediately recognized as that peculiar scent in her that he couldn't get enough of. The young man smiled to himself and leaning back to peek through the door — make sure she wasn't near by, he poured some on his finger and rubbed it around his wrist.

He didn't feel like he was done messing with her things until after he had squeezed her shampoo bottle and made it blow some bubbles and had washed his hands with the soap she used for her face. He even used some acne wash just in case. The man-child made sure to leave everything in order without realizing he had altered it, and left the bathroom.

* * *

The redhead woke up that next Monday morning in a room brightly cleaned, she checked the time on the alarm clock she had set on her nightstand — it was only six in the morning, her body was used to waking her up early, it didn't matter the day or of she was on vacation. She didn't mind it though, at least not any more. Claire was wearing a pair of hunter green flannel pajama pants and a white tank top.

It was until she stepped out of her room when she was reminded that the rest of the apartment was a mess. She quietly walked to the kitchen, her bare feet feeling the cold of the ceramic tile floor beneath them. She wrinkled her nose at the sight and smell of the pile of dishes Owen had over the sink.

Claire pulled the fridge door open, she was hungry and looking for some breakfast, this one was practically empty. She reached out for some containers and immediately threw them away after finding the left overs in them were way passed their expiration date. In fact, almost ninety percent of the food in there was expired including four out of the five cartons of milk Owen kept in there for some reason.

She sighed after emptying the fridge and moved to search for some food in the cupboards. The redhead found his cereal and taking the box in her hands, rolled her eyes, "'I share everything but my Lucky Charms'." She snorted, "I'm not five." She mumbled to herself and put it back down. After looking for something eatable for about five minutes, Claire found some peanut butter and bread. She figured that would have to do, so for the first time in years...she had a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, with a glass of water because the orange juice was expired and she didn't trust his good milk.

After breakfast, she started washing that pile of dishes. She hated to do the chores for him but knew it was the only way to get it done. She was determined to clean that apartment and make it a place suitable to live in, and from that day on make sure he kept it that way. The redhead wasn't going to turn into his maid either, she'd make sure to split those chores in half for him to help around, too.

After the dishes were done, she cleaned the rest of the kitchen — including the fridge which stunk horribly. Leaving the kitchen impecable took her about an hour, and now she was ready to move on and start with the living room.

She gathered piles of things she figured he had even forgotten existed, like a baseball bat and an old GameCube console. By the time she was done cleaning under the couch and every corner of the apartment, she had gathered a few boxes of stuff that could be easily sold on eBay and a box with four different styles of panties and three bras — neither of them were from the same set. Not that she had any doubts, but this confirmed she would need to either get soundproof earplugs or ask Owen to tell her in advance he would be bringing a lady friend over; this so she could stay in her office that night.

By noon, the redhead had left that apartment, including the bathroom, smelling like clean for the first time in a long while. Her white tank top was now grey, but she didn't mind. She gathered the garbage bags she had filled and dragged them outside. After a couple of trips, she had managed to take them all out and also the boxes of crap she had put together.

Claire took the liberty to display them outside their building and start selling them to the people walking by. What difference did it make? To have them lost in his apartment, thrown away, or sold.. with the latter she was at least making some money.

'One's trash is another's treasure' was a saying for a reason; Claire had managed to make almost a hundred dollars with all that crap. She ran to the nearby store and got all sorts of groceries with the money; fresh fruit, milk, some vegetables, and even some snacks...among other things.

She was glad she didn't have to formally start her new job until Wednesday since that had left her the whole day free to settle up properly, that included unpacking, cleaning, and now even grocery shopping.

Claire had gotten her own key that same Saturday morning, she used it to unlock the door to her apartment and once she placed all their groceries away, she headed straight to the shower. She had brought her outfit with her, avoid having to walk from the bathroom to her bedroom in only a towel.

By two in the afternoon, she was showered and comfortable in her new apartment. She could breathe in and scent the difference between now and the moment she first walked in. She was on the couch, working on her laptop when her roommate finally woke up.

He was wearing a pair of red flannel pants, a white t-shirt, and his hair all messy. He rubbed the back of his neck, his bare feet stepping out of his bedroom when his hazel eyes immediately grew big after taking the drastic change in his place. "What did you to to my apartment!?" You'd think he would be glad someone had cleaned up.

"I cleaned, you know... that thing you do with a broom? You should try it some time." She casually suggested, her eyes never leaving the laptop screen.

"Brooms are for witches... oh wait—" He rolled his eyes and walked toward the kitchen and fetching for a bowl, he fixed himself some Lucky Charms. "What did you do with my milk?!" He called out, his head in the fridge.

"I threw it out along with all the shit you keep in there." She spoiled him the surprise.

"Please don't touch my crap!" He requested, but still poured some of the fresh milk into his bowl.

"You better wash that bowl AND spoon once you are done." She required.

"Did we go through the rules?" He asked her as he sat on the couch next to her. "Rule number one ... don't tell me what to do." He shook his finger at her, "and two, no rules."

"You are contradicting rule number two by having rule number one and by having rule number two for that matter."

Owen had to think about that for a second, repeating each word in his head hoping he would understand what she had said, "no one asked you!" He started to eat his Lucky Charms and turned the tv on.

"Don't you have a job?" She was curious to figure out how he could afford to get up at two in the afternoon and sat in the living room to watch cartoons.

"I'm off on Mondays." He shared, nibbling on his cereal before bringing his attention to the television. He almost robotically leaned over and let his hand blindly feel around under the couch for something. The redhead next to him bringing her sight up from her laptop to watch him, "Did you see a baseball and a glove under here?" He liked putting the baseball glove on and play around with the ball while watching television.

"Yeah, I sold them for ten bucks." She shrugged.

"WHAT!?"

"Yep, you are drinking them right now, you are welcome." Claire explained how she had used that money for the groceries.

"Who said you could sell my shit? That's a signed baseball glove! It's worth more than a couple hundreds!" Owen was annoyed, "Jeez, what the fuck!"

The redhead laughed, "who keeps something so valuable under the couch?" She rolled her eyes, "and next to some tramp's dirty thong!"

"That's my place for it, leave me alone!" He had no argument about that, it was a terrible place to keep them, "and I don't have no thongs around here! Just stop getting rid of my stuff, okay!?"

Claire set her laptop on the coffee table across from her and went looking for the box she had kept, once back she dropped it on the cushion next to him.

Owen jumped lightly and turned to look down at it. His eyes immediately caught the women underwear in it and slowly looked up, offering a guilty grin after his eyes met hers. "Yeah...you can get rid of those."


End file.
